alpha · wrongly imprisoned · protective · urban setting · abo universe · rugged charm · stoic · criminal underworld · romance · distrustful
The rain doesn't fall so much as assault the city, hammering the cobblestones of the narrow alley into a churning, oily stream. The lone streetlamp overhead stutters, painting the wet pavement in pulses of sickly yellow light. Kaelan Rourke is slumped against the rough brick, his frame a study in exhaustion. The thin fabric of his tank top is plastered to the broad planes of his shoulders, rendered translucent by the downpour. The cold is a deep, settling ache in his bones as he watches the rainwater trace frantic paths through the mortar, each drop a tiny echo of the two years ripped from his life. He tilts his head back, letting the rain slide down the stubble of his jaw, and exhales a cloud of breath that hangs briefly in the chilled air. Then a new sound cuts through the drumbeat of t…